Record turnout predicted as election day arrives

Iowa’s Commissioner of Elections predicts almost one-and-a-half million Iowans will vote in this year’s election. Chet Culver, who is also Iowa’s Secretary of State, says about 300-thousand Iowans voted early — at a satellite voting station, their county auditor’s office or via the mail with an absentee ballot. Culver expects over one-point-four million Iowans to vote today. He says the weather will be good today, and that should boost turn-out. Culver urges Iowans to check their voter registration card to ensure they vote in the correct precinct. If you encounter any voting problems today, you can call 1-888-SOS-VOTE for help. Culver says you can register concerns via the Internet, too.The address is www.iowavotes.us. You may also contact your local county auditor for help. Culver says there are 100 new machines on-line in Iowa for today’s voting.One county — Sioux County — uses lever voting machines. The majority of counties in Iowa use optical scanner machines that read ballots on which voters have darkened ovals or drawn lines to indicate their voting preferences. A few counties have those new-fangled touch-screen voting machines. Culver says Iowa is in the top tier of states when it comes to voting equipment. Culver says to put it in perspective, two-thirds of the voters in Ohio will be using punch-card ballots, despite the “hanging chad” problem that cropped up during the recount in Florida four years ago.